


The Holly and The Mistletoe

by nameless_wanderer



Category: Dear Evan Hansen - Pasek & Paul/Levenson
Genre: F/F, Galaxy Gals, M/M, They're stuck at the Murphy's holiday party, but the party sucks and they don't want to talk to adults or classmates, but they're gay and dating, its cute, sincerely three, theres a cuddle pile at the end, they confuse holly and mistletoe, they just want to hang with each other, they're all gay or bi or pan its not important
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-18
Updated: 2019-01-18
Packaged: 2019-10-12 02:27:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,566
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17458850
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nameless_wanderer/pseuds/nameless_wanderer
Summary: Stuck at the Murphy's holiday party, the kids want to avoid talking to the guest; the Murphy parents, the adults with intrusive questions, and especially four specific fellow classmates. The good news: they can avoid the adults by talking to the other kids at the party. The bad news: the other kids are four specific classmates. Watch the gang as they avoid adults, gracefully fail to avoid running into other teens, and confuse two common holiday plants.





	The Holly and The Mistletoe

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Fanboy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fanboy/gifts).



It was a lovely evening in late December, just a sprinkling of snow on the ground to politely remind everyone that winter was about to arrive, and the interior of the Murphy house was full of light, sparkling beverages, and conversation… much to the frustration of the five teens sitting in Zoe Murphy’s room.

“So let me get this straight,” Jared began, lying with his head hanging upside down off the bed, “your family does this every year?” he asked incredulously.

“Yep. Unfortunately,” Zoe replied, looking up from playing guitar. She and Evan were sitting next to each other on the far wall, just chilling.

“Like fucking clockwork,” Connor added, lying on his back in the middle of the room. “Putting on their best impressions right before Christmas for a bunch of people we don’t know or don’t like.”

“Don’t forget the people we don’t know _and_ don’t like!” Zoe quipped.

“Oh right those fuckers,” Connor replied.

Evan turned to give a confused look at Connor. “How can you not know and not like somebody?”

“Matt Holzer,” Connor shot back.

“I stand corrected.”

“If nothing else, you have to admire the consistency of an annual party,” Alana said before returning to browse Zoe’s bookshelf.

“So you’re saying you’d rather be down there, trying to converse with adults who don’t care about you while every single one asks where you’re going to college?” Jared joked.

“That doesn’t even vaguely resemble what I said,” Alana shot back. “Adults are terrible interlocutors.” This earned a confused glance from everybody. Jared even sat up (though Connor merely lifted his head). “Conversationalists,” Alana supplemented. When that still didn’t garner a response she sighed. “People to talk to. They’re terrible at talking with high school students.” This garner a series of sounds from the others indicating realization which were only about fifty-seven percent genuine. “You all seriously don’t know what the word ‘conversationalist’ means? You’re hopeless.”

“Is it just me or do adults tend to not view teens as actual human beings?” Jared said, earning him a few murmurs of agreement.

“But god forbid you be rude to them. Or even be polite to them but refuse to treat them as an authority. Or even do all of that but correct them,” Zoe added.

“People in general make me anxious, but adults are terrifying,” Evan said.

“Yeah, try being the family disappointment, _and_ the quote-unquote drug addict, _and_ the queer one, _and_ you’re in a polyamorous relationship with your only two guy friends but you can’t tell anybody because that’s ‘not appropriate’ or whatever,” Connor spoke up.

“Well, that and you haven’t actually _told_ Mom and Dad you’re dating Evan and Jared,” Zoe said.

“You and Alana first,” Connor challenged.

“Whoa, easy there,” Zoe said.

“I think we’ll pass on that,” Alana said.

“We just have to survive up here until everyone else leaves, right?” Evan interrupted, turning to look at Zoe.

“Basically,” she said. “Party tends to dwindle to nothing around nine, and our parents have already said you guys can stay the night, provided the guys sleep in Connor’s room and Alana sleeps in mine.” This elicited snickering in Connor and Jared as well as some polite coughing from Alana. “Yeah, they’re not the brightest, but boy do they try.”

“So it’s settled. We stay up here until nine,” Jared announced, definitively.

Just then the door to Zoe’s room opened and Cynthia looked in.

“Zoe! Connor! What are you doing hiding out up here? I told you to come down half an hour ago.”

“Technically, you told us to get out of my room,” Connor contradicted. “You didn’t actually say anything about coming down.”

“He’s got you there,” Zoe replied, barely looking up from her strumming.

“Actually, Mrs. Murphy,” Alana interrupted, “I had a question about…” Alana looked down at her hands. “Zoe’s books! I was wondering if she had any books on…” Alana glanced across the room at Zoe, who was barely stifling a giggle. “playing guitar!”

“Alana,” Cynthia said, “you’re a very smart girl. But would you like to think about that excuse for a few more seconds?” Alana stared back blankly at Cynthia’s sweet facade, clearly hiding umbridge at her children, while the others held their breath to avoid laughing.

“...See, my cousin is getting a guitar for Christmas, and—”

“Okay, nice try.” Cynthia turned to look at her two children. “Right. You two need to come down immediately.”

“Can’t. Busy entertaining guests,” Connor said, blandly.

“Then by all means bring them down with you. You need to say hi to everyone down there.”

“No offense, Mom, but my time would be better spent up here practicing and just giving everyone a form answer of ‘her grades are good,’ ‘yes, junior year is tricky,’ and ‘no, she doesn’t have any plans for college yet,’” Zoe said, clearly without malicious intent.

“I’m with her. I don’t wanna talk to patronizing adults,” Connor said, his intent a tad more malicious.

“Don’t be like that, there are plenty of kids your age. You know the Harises are here—”

“Ugh,” Connor and Zoe said in sync.

“Jenna Holzer brought her son—”

“Matt Holzer is here?” Evan asked, his face forming a concerned frown.

“And the Patels actually brought Sabrina this year!”

“Oh,” Alana said, trying to hide some negative emotion.

“Okay, but who do I hate who’s here?” Jared asked.

Connor looked over at him. “Everyone. You hate everyone, Jared.”

“Oh yeah. Huh.”

Cynthia put her face in her hand and shook her head. “Just come down before your father has to ask you.” She left the doorway and the teens looked around at each other.

Connor was the first to get up surprisingly. “Fine. I really don’t wanna deal with Dad today.” Moving slowly, the others followed Connor as he walked out of the room and down the stairs.

“So what’s the deal with the Harises?” Evan asked.

“They lived down the street from us when we were kids so our parents decided we all had to be best friends,” Connor said, rolling his eyes.

“They have a boy and a girl about our age. Katie’s… alright, but she’s just so oblivious sometimes.”

“And Jonathan is the biggest fucking douchebag I’ve ever met,” Connor said. “Considering I’m dating Jared Kleinman, that’s saying something.”

“Hey!” Jared responded, indignant. He looked down, thinking about it for a second. “You know what, that’s fair, actually.” The five walked around the corner, getting a glimpse at just how crowded the living room was. Everywhere they looked, there were adults talking, laughing, and snacking on party food. “Wait, there’s been food down here this whole time? New plan: Murphys, you mingle while the platinum trio— that’s me, Alana, and Evan—”

“When have we ever been called that?” Alana interrupted.

“—Sneak into the kitchen, raiding it for every single app, chip, and hors d'oeuvre we can find. We rendezvous in 30 back upstairs in Zoe’s room.”

“It’s too late, Tweedle Dumb and Tweedle Douche are already approaching,” Connor replied under his breath, discreetly pointing to two teenagers walking towards them.

“Connor! Zoe! It’s so good to see you guys!” The girl said in a bubbly tone, quickly hugging Zoe and giving Connor a familiar punch on the arm when he refused to open his arms.

“Good to see you Katie, Jonathan,” Zoe replied.

“Please,” the boy said, “call me J-Dog.”

“We most certainly will not,” Connor replied.

“Who’s this?” Katie asked referring to the other three.

“These are our friends, actually,” Zoe said. “This is Alana.” Alana held out her hand, which Katie excitedly shook.

“The tall one is Evan and the dumb one is Jared,” Connor said, vaguely gesturing to the other two boys.

“So it’s you three,” Jonathan said, gesturing to the boys, “and you two?” he finished, gesturing to Zoe and Alana. All looked at him confused and somewhat worried. How could he possibly know?

Alana was the first to figure it out. “Actually, we all hang out together. Connor is probably my best friend.”

“And I don’t know what I’d do without Evan,” Zoe said, giving a familiar smile.

“Wait, all five of you hang out?” Katie asked, confused. “Even… you two?” At this, she pointed to Connor and Zoe. Her face quickly turned apologetic at the others confusion. “Sorry! I don’t mean to offend, it’s just there were a few years there where these two… um…” She appeared to be trying to phrase something harsh very delicately.

“Fucking hated each other’s guts?” Connor offered. “Yeah. There was. And then we grew up and realized we’d been really harsh with each other. Me especially. And we tried to be… nice.”

“Don’t get me wrong, I’d still sell you to satan for one corn chip,” Zoe said.

“Oh, same here,” Connor replied, grinning.

“Well I always thought you had the same sense of humor,” Jonathan said, grinning a little too widely.

“Shut your up,” Zoe and Connor replied at the same time.

“Are you sure you guys didn’t plan that?” Jared asked

“So what I wanna know,” Jonathan said, walking towards Alana “is who is this lovely urban woman,” he put an arm around her shoulder, “because I—”

“Okay,” Alana said, quickly taking his arm off and walking away, “I’m gonna stop you right there before you compare me to chocolate or… any kind of food, really. My name is Alana, like Zoe said earlier, yes, I’m currently dating somebody, no I do not want to go on a date with you, no I don’t want your number just in case—”

“Whoa, chill out! I was just joking!” Jonathan said, attempting to laugh the uncomfortable situation off. “I think I’m gonna check with my parents. Will you guys be joining us for skiing later this winter?” Jonathan walked away without waiting for the answer

“Don’t count on it, ‘J-Dog,’” Connor said with a sneer.

“Oh, you guys aren’t coming?” Katie said, somewhat disappointed. “Well we have to get in touch soon. Oh! We should set up a spa day! You could even bring Elaina! Promise to text when you’re available, Zo?” She quickly hugged Zoe again. “Nice to meet all of you!” She said as she ran after her brother.

“Alana is not that hard of a name to remember,” Alana said exasperated.

“To be fair I don’t think either of them even had a clue what my name was,” Evan said.

“Between the two of them they must only have, like, three brain cells,” Jared said.

“Like I said, Katie is sweet just… not all there,” Zoe said, halfheartedly defending Katie.

“But Jonathan is a complete and total ass,” Connor said, clenching his teeth.

“Agreed,” Alana said. She turned to Connor and saw how angry he was. “Connor, it’s fine. I deal with guys like him all the time. I’m okay. This was literally no big deal.”

“Hey, let’s go get some food, yeah?” Jared said, quickly changing the subject. As the five walked towards the food, Connor relaxed slightly.

“Well, the good news is that that’s one encounter that we’re gonna hate down. Just have Matt Holzer and Sabrina Patel.”

“That’s right, I mean to ask earlier.” Alana turned to Evan. “What don’t you like about Matt?” she asked.

Evan frowned. “It’s kind of hard to explain? I guess really it’s that I don’t trust him, like he’s a little sketchy.”

“How so?”

“I get a bit of a conman vibe from him. Like he would try to sell snow to a Canadian. I don’t like it or trust it.”

“Fair,” Zoe said. “Of course I can think of another person who fits this definition.” The others turned to look at Jared, who was already stuffing his face with tortilla chips.

“Suh dude?” he said, causing everyone else to laugh.

“Damn it,” Evan said, searching his pockets. “I think I left my headphones in Zoe’s room. I’m gonna head up and check.”

“I’ll come with you,” Alana offered. “Wouldn’t want you running into Matt by yourself.”

“It’s my room so I can help you look,” Zoe said. She turned to Connor and Jared. “Man the fort. Got it?”

“Got it,” Jared said, “eat all the snacks.”

“Stop Jared from eating all the snacks,” Connor said, rolling his eyes, “got it.” Evan, Zoe, and Alana stared after Connor as he trailed Jared through the party. Remembering what he was doing, Evan turned around and walked towards the doorway, the girls closely in tow. As he looked up at the red berries and green leaves adorning the threshold, he collided with somebody.

“Oh I’m so sor—” Evan froze as he saw who he had run into.

“No problem at all,” Matt Holzer said, barely looking up. “Oh hey, what’s up Ethan?”

Evan stared at him, mouth agape for a few seconds. “...It’s Evan. We’ve gone to the same school for like seven years.” Matt burst into laughter at this.

“Dude, it’s a joke. Lighten up, Ev.”

“...What part of that was supposed to be funny?” Zoe stage whispered to Alana, earning a half serious hit on the arm in response.

“So Ev—”

“Evan,” Evan tried to correct, to no avail.

“I had an idea for some merch I wanted to drop on you and your lovely girlfriends—”

“Stop,” Evan interrupted.

“Not his girlfriends,” Alana replied.

“Just girls who happen to be his friends,” Zoe continued.

“Matt, go through this checklist in your mind: first, does it sound like you’re trying to get me to join a pyramid scheme? Second, does it exploit an issue that has nothing to do with you to turn a quick buck? And finally, will your product have a shelf life of less than two weeks?” Matt looked up as he thought about the questions, squinting as if trying to think. “If you answered yes to any of those questions, I want no part in this.”

“What am I gonna have to do, seduce you?” Matt joked.

“Excuse me?” Alana said, visibly confused.

“Not like it would work on you two,” he chuckled as he pointed to Alana and Zoe.

“Excuse _me_?” Zoe said, angry. At that moment, Connor and Jared approached from behind.

“What’s going on?” Jared asked, slightly concerned.

“Oh I was just filling them in on the rumors,” Matt said, feigning innocence.

“Oh really? What rumors?” Jared asked, eyes rolling.

“Just that ‘Lana and Zo here are a little too close to just be gal pals—”

“How hard is it to say full names?” Evan mumbled, annoyed.

“And that Ethan here looks up to Kleinman and Murphy here a little too much.” Evan’s heart rate quickened. Did people at school really know?

“Well, Matt, you know what they say about rumors and teeth,” Connor spoke up. Matt’s quizzical look invited him to continue. “It’s best if they stay inside your mouth. Right?” His face turned deadly serious for a few seconds, and for a moment Evan could swear he saw fear in Matt’s eyes. Suddenly, Connor broke out into a grin. “I’m just fucking with you, Holzer, a lost art my friends fail to recognize in you.” Relief quickly swept across Matt’s face as he laughed.

“Right, you know I was just messing with you, right?”

“This guy,” Connor said, grabbing him by the shoulder. Evan, Zoe, and Alana looked as Connor turned Matt away from them and mouthed _go!_

 _Thanks,_ Evan mouthed back as he and the girls hurried upstairs.

“Wait, there’s something I forgot!” Zoe quickly said. Alana turned to her, confused, and Zoe gave her a quick peck on the lips. “We were standing under mistletoe in the door for a while there. I wasn’t going to miss a chance to kiss you.” Alana put her face in her hands, sheepish, while Evan raised an eyebrow.

“You realize the red berried plant is holly, right?” He said, a tad patronizing.

Zoe’s smile fell. “You’re kidding me.”

“Common mistake,” Evan replied.

“Damn it. I swear my parents hung up mistletoe somewhere, and so help me I am going to find it and kiss you under it before this night is over,” Zoe vowed.

Evan quickly grabbed his headphones and the three headed back down, rendezvousing with Jared and Connor. Evan shot Connor a questioning look, and Connor immediately understood.

“Matt’s completely clueless. I think he just talks sometimes because he’s nervous. But he’s surprisingly adept at putting two and two together and then completely ignoring the result.” Evan breathed a sigh of relief at Connor’s assurance.

“So with Matt out of the way that just leaves Sabrina for awkward confrontations,” Jared said.

“Oh yeah,” Evan said, “why don’t you like her?”

“I’d rather not say,” Alana said, “I’d like to avoid the established pattern of describing someone’s flaws only to run into that person immediately after.”

“I already see her across the room, she’s gonna find us,” Zoe said unhelpfully.

“Damn it. Okay fine, Sabrina’s not awful, she just kinda… does progressive sounding things only if they just so happen to benefit her.”

“Well I mean that’s not inherently bad,” Evan said, “I mean, didn’t she try to start a GSA at our school?”

“Yeah, officially it was to ‘improve diversity and encourage acceptance,’” Jared said.

“See, that’s not so—“

“Her real intent was to find a GBF,” Alana said dryly.

“Okay it’s bad,” Evan conceded.

“She’s walking over,” Zoe said trying to look casual. Sure enough, Sabrina had walked over, a smile on her face and a mischievous twinkle in her eye.

“Oh my god!” She said, a tad too excited. “If it isn’t the Murphy siblings and the Platinum Trio!”

“You paid her to said that,” Alana quickly accused Jared, who could only stifle a laugh in response.

“I mean, collectively you’re the Fantastic Five,” Sabrina continued.

“When have we ever been called any of these things?” Evan asked, confused.

“Well, it’s good to see you,” Zoe offered, a conversational tone in her voice.

“And it’s good to see you! You know, outside of school and stuff. We never really get to hang out,” Sabrina lamented in a way that seemed genuine but with no intent of fixing it.

“Yeah, I mean planning for college keeps us busy. Not to mention extracurriculars,” Alana said, desperately searching for an out.

“That reminds me, I wanted to talk to you about something Alana!” Sabrina said, excited.

“Um. Me? Okay. But why do you need _my_ help?” Alana replied, a little shocked.

“Because of all the extracurriculars! You know how to handle clubs and stuff, right?”

“Yeah, I mean, I guess—”

“Perfect! So I have this idea for, like, a school wide confessional. Basically anybody can send in something they wanna talk about or just get off their chest. It’s not, like, strictly a call center or anything, it’s just for people to say whatever they want to say free from judgement. It’s kind of like an advice column but you don’t have to need advice to write in.” Sabrina began getting more excited as she kept talking, clearly invested in the idea.

Alana was a little stunned. “That’s actually not a terrible idea. I mean, I can spot some logistical issues, moral quandaries, and boundaries that you’ll need to set, just to prevent a situation that nobody knows how to respond to. But it sounds like a good idea that could benefit a lot of people.”

“Wait for it…” Jared said, earning a quiet shushing from Evan.

“Yeah, totally! And as a bonus it would allow me to put some really good qualities on my resume.”

“There it is,” Connor quietly said, earning a giggle from Jared and a stern look Evan and Zoe.

Alana sighed. “Well, if you want to do this, let me know. I have some ideas that would improve upon the original concept, give less opportunities for liability nightmares.”

“Thanks Alana! I really do believe in this idea! Honestly I think my biggest problem is I can’t find a name for it.” She shrugged. “Unless any of you have ideas.” Alana, Jared, Zoe, and Connor shook their heads and laughed a bit, but Evan looked pensive.

Amidst the laughter he spoke up. “What about ‘Sincerely, Me’? You know, as a name.”

Sabrina stopped and thought about it. “Yeah I could see that working. I’ll workshop it a bit but that’s a really good name for now. Thanks a bunch Evan.” Her eyes suddenly lit up. “Hey would you wanna be a part of it? Like, co-president or something?”

Evan quickly shook his head. “Nope, nope, not good at co-presidenting, just… coming up with names, I guess. I’ll leave the running it to you.”

“Alana? What about you?” Sabrina asked, hopefully. “I really do care about this cause.”

Alana smirked. “I’ll think about it. Thanks for asking.”

“Oh, I gotta go catch up with Matt, but it was really lovely talking with you guys. I’ll see you guys at school, yeah?”

“Yeah, sure,” Zoe replied for the group. As Sabrina walked away she waved, causing all of them to awkwardly wave in response.

“Why are we all waving?” Jared whispered.

“No clue,” Zoe replied.

“That wasn’t as bad as I thought,” Alana admitted.

“Watch Matt try and squeeze a buck out of it,” Connor joked.

“Well that’s everyone, right?” Evan asked. “The Harises, Matt Holzer, and Sabrina Patel. Everyone we—”

“Hate,” Connor provided.

“Dislike,” Evan continued “out of the way. We can get back to enjoying this party— that is, hide upstairs.”

“Wait,” Connor said, “I recall Jared hating everyone.”

“...Goddamn my pessimism,” Jared said.

“At least there’s food,” Zoe said.

“We could just talked to each other,” Alana said. The others murmured in agreement. They stood around awkwardly for a few seconds, unsure what to do.

“So… current goal is to brainstorm where we’re going to college, right?” The others dejectedly murmured in agreement.

“And eat all the snacks,” Jared added.

“Right, can’t forget that,” Zoe said, laughing. “Let’s go raid the kitchen again.”

The five stuck together through the night, eating and drinking, laughing at inside jokes and tag teaming to answer the annoying questions from adults. Together, they made the night enjoyable, until everyone had left and the parents had gone upstairs. They were currently occupying the family room, watching some dumb christmas movie on netflix, laughing at it and enjoying it only half ironically. Mostly they were just enjoying each other’s company, spread out between the kitchen and the family room.

“Hey Evan, do you want anything to drink?” Jared called from the kitchen.

“Umm… What are you drinking Connor?”

“Champagne. I think. Fancy stuff Mom and Dad got for this party.”

“And on the opposite end of the spectrum, Alana?”

“Um… sparkling apple cider.”

“Uh-huh, uh-huh,” Evan said, as if carefully considering. “So I’ll just have a sprite, like always.”

As if on cue, Jared walked in with a cup full of sprite. “Yeah, I figured.” Evan thanked him while grabbing the cup. Jared walked over to the doorway where Connor was waiting. “You need a top off or anything?”

“There is something I could use while you’re here,” Connor said, smiling mischievously. He pulled Jared close and kissed him. When they finally separated, Jared looked confused.

“What was that for?”

Connor looked up. “Dude, we’re standing under mistletoe. White berries?”

“Wait, I thought that was holly,” Jared said confused.

“You dorks need to learn your plants,” Evan said, laughing.

Zoe suddenly had an epiphany. “There’s the mistletoe! Babe, we have to stand under it right now.”

“Who you callin’ dork, dork?” Connor said affectionately.

“Uh-oh,” Evan said, aware what was about to happen. He took a defensive position on the floor.

“Can’t. Too comfy on the couch,” Alana replied to Zoe.

“Hold this,” Connor said, giving Jared his cup. He wound up, ran towards Evan, and jumped on top of him.

“Oof!”

“Shut up, you love it. And I love you.” Connor gave the top Evan’s head a quick kiss while Evan groaned beneath him.

“Then scoot over at least,” Zoe said sitting right next to Alana who was trying hard not to laugh. Zoe gave Alana a quick peck on the cheek.

“Oh, I’ve got to get in on this,” Jared said, walking over and gently setting their drinks down before piling on top of Connor. All five laughed, barely paying attention to the movie anymore.

“Guys, do you ever just think about how fucking insane this year has been?” Jared said out of the blue.

“Yeah. Last year I was sitting in my room looking out at the snow and feeling like the loneliest guy in the world,” Evan admitted. “And I was so obsessed with Zoe Murphy, and I would’ve given anything to talk to her.”

“And then I saw this shy kid hanging out after the valentine’s day jazz band concert,” Zoe said, “and I decided to say hi—”

“Even though his hands were sweaty,” Evan joked.

“—right, and I introduced myself and he was so nervous.”

“And she noticed that his best friend—sorry, best _family_ friend—was so oblivious that even said friend didn’t notice that he had a crush on the nerd,” Jared added.

“And he noticed that her brother wasn’t actually as big of a dick as he pretended to be and the brother actually made an effort to rehabilitate himself,” Connor supplied.

“Then the brother decided to give the overachieving classmate a chance and brought her into his life,” Alana said.

“And all five of us started hanging out,” Evan said. "And when I fell over the summer, I had friends to take me home."

"When my grandmother died, you got me through it," Alana continued.

"When our parents' arguing drove us up the fucking walls you guys offered places to study," Connor said.

"God knows how many times you guys have help me when I felt fucked up," Jared added.

"And we developed a close bond," Evan summed up. "Confessions were made, and relationships were formed. But most importantly, we knew we had each other." A profound silence hung over the room. 

“Wow,” Zoe whispered. “All of that because I said hi.” She smiled at the others. “Yeah, it’s been a good year.”

Evan smiled fondly at the others. He unburied himself from Connor and Jared and sat up. “I’d like to propose a toast,” he started. The others looked at him, curious. “Family comes and goes. Fathers leave. Grandparents die. Siblings grow up, and parents separate and get back together. Family is temporary and most days it feels like blood is just as thin as water. But I have learned that real family comes from the people we surround ourselves with, and the blood of the coven is thicker that the water of the womb. Translation: family is the people we choose to surround ourselves with. And I couldn’t have chosen a better family if I tried. Here’s to family.”

“I’ll drink to that,” Jared said, lifting his glass. The others followed suit, collectively taking a sip. “You’re really good at toasts, you know that?” Jared said, kissing Evan. “You should be a public speaker!”

The others quickly started contradicting, making Jared laugh and kicking off more conversation on the things that had happened last night. They laughed and talked into the night, eventually drifting off to sleep, entangled in each other’s embrace, happy and warm in the middle of the cold winter night.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm tired, I'll write better words tomorrow, but this was a gift for the dear evan hansen winter gift exchange! I haven't written sincerely three since last year around this time, and I always love writing galaxy gals. I'm mostly gonna do this via tumblr, but kian i hope you like it. I'm so glad i got you for this gift exchange. merry super late christmas.


End file.
